In a sizeable victory for Sony, 3D toon Hotel Transylvania debuted to $43 million --the biggest opening since The Dark Knight Rises and the top September bow ever. It's also the best performance to date for the studio's animation unit.

The good news didn't end there. Looper, released by Sony's TriStar label in tandem with FilmDistrict and Endgame Entertainment, took the No. 2 spot with a $21.2 million opening.

Looper, a Chinese co-production, is also doing impressive opening business in China, where it's expected to gross between $23 million and $25 million for the weekend.

Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, Hotel Transylvania was fueled by good word of mouth (the film received an A- CinemaScore) and a pent-up demand for family product. The pic's voice cast is led by Adam Sandler, Kevin James and Selena Gomez.

Sony Animation's previous top debut was The Smurfs, which opened to $35.6 million in summer 2011. The previous best September bow was Sweet Home Alabama ($35.6 million).

Hotel Transylvania also scored the biggest September single day in history with $19 million, beating Sweet Home Alabama ($14.7 million).

Thanks to Hotel Transylvania and Looper, which received a B+ CinemaScore, weekend revenues should be bup 24 percent over last year, ending a post-summer losing streak.

The grim news of the weekend -- Walden Media wide release Won't Back Down, distributed by 20th Century Fox, opened to a dismal $2.7 million, only good enough for a 10th place finish. The education drama, starring Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal, was handily beat by Universal's musical comedy Pitch Perfect, even though that film was only a limited release.

"It's going to be a different story, just because one--it takes place in a non-descript city in America and two--it's ten years later, so technology is different. It's not trying to redo the film – it's coming at it from a different view. As well as focussing on the primary source of the Korean film, for our film there's also the Japanese Manga, so we're using the primary source of the illustrated novel, really."

Samuel L. Jackson will play Stephen, an expert manipulator and house slave of the plantation owner. Dennis Christopher will play Leo Moguy, who serves as lawyer to Candie. Laura Cayouette will play the widowed sister of Candie M.C. Gainey will play the villainous role of Big John Brittle. His character does some not very nice things to Django’s wife, Broomhilda. Johnson will play a wealthy southern plantation owner who Django and Schultz meet in their pursuit of a bounty Industry make up guru Tom Savini plays another Brittle brother. Gerald McRaney also star. Rapper/actor RZA AKA Robert Diggs will portray Thaddeus, a violent slave toiling away at a Mississiippi plantation. Misty Upham will play Minnie, who owns a trading post/bar.James Remar will play “Ace Speck, who purchases Django at the Greenville Slave Auction Tom Wopat‘s portraying Marshall Gill Tatum Todd Allen will appear as “plantation overseer Dollar Bill.” James Russo is without a specified part Cooper Huckabee is the last of the Brittle brothers, the redneck outlaws who sell off Django and Broomhilda. Michael K. Williams, Zoë Bell and Danièle Watts co star.

This particular film covers three years of Abraham Lincoln's life in the wilderness of Indiana and is an alternate take on the former U.S. President, the hardships that shaped him, the tragedy that marked him forever and the two women who guided him to greatness.

Marling will play his mother Nancy Lincoln while Bentley plays his first teacher.

Kids pic Hotel Transylvania -- boasting a voice cast led by Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez -- should have no trouble claiming the weekend crown, while sci-fi drama Looper is expected to do solid business as well.Combined, the pair of films should help the domestic box office recover from a tough post-summer stretch. Looper, directed by Rian Johnson and receiving stellar reviews, stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis.

In an unusual twist, both films are from the Sony family. Hotel Transylvania is a big Sony release, while the studio's TriStar label is releasing Looper in tandem with FilmDistrict.

Conservative estimates show Hotel Transylvania grossing in the $28 million to $30 million range, while Looper should land in the high teens.

Prospects for the weekend's third new wide release, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis education drama Won't Back Down, aren't as bright. The film, distributed by 20th Century Fox and produced by Walden Media, may only gross in the $5 million range.

Won't Back Down, about a parent and teacher's battle to take over a failing public school, has drawn the ire of teachers' unions, but overall awareness is still soft.

Specialty openings include Universal's musical comedy Pitch Perfect, about an all-girls a cappella group. The films, whose cast includes Anna Kendrick and Brittany Snow, opens in 335 theaters on Friday before expanding nationwide on Oct. 5.

Universal held its largest-ever word-of-mouth screening program for Pitch Perfect, which it co-financed with Paul Brooks' Gold Circle Films. Brooks produced the film alongside Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

The great character actor Herbert Lom died in London at the age of 95 says THR.

In a career that spanned over five decades he appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows playing everything from the leading men, good guys, and villains alike.

Lom will be best remembered for his role as Chief Inspector Dreyfus, Inspector Clouseau's (Peter Sellers) long-suffering boss, in the The Pink Panther film series--starting with "A Shot in the Dark". The pair had great chemistry and I spent many hours as a young boy watching their antics with my parents and siblings--enjoying their work.

The film will be based on the true story case of former Motown Records producer Lawrence Horn. Horn hired a hitman to murder his wife, quadriplegic son and live-in nurse so he could inherit their wealth.

The story follows two former small-town high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they’ve taken wildly divergent paths but neither has forgotten their first love affair and the past is confronted when they return to their hometown for a funeral.

Based on author John le Carré's 2008 political novel the story is set in present-day Hamburg, the action begins when a mysterious, near-dead half-Chechen, half-Russian fugitive arrives in the city's Islamic community desperate for help and looking to recover his late Russian father's ill-gotten fortune.

The story is loosely based on Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen and legal German resident seized by American authorities and sent to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba before being released without charge in 2006.

Alexander, who plays Sif, reportedly slipped while walking to the set in the rain says Yahoo. The injury is not halting production and her schedule has been moved around to accommodate her recovery.

On Monday she tweeted "Today I sustained a pretty horrible injury. I'm lucky I'm not paralyzed. Thank you (with all of my heart) to those who've looked after me… Meds are kicking in. Awesome funny nurses here at the hospital. Physio tomorrow. All good."

Alan Taylor directs the sequel that is on a larger scale than the first film with double the amount of Asgardian characters and the inclusion of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) battling more mythical Norse creatures.

Does the fact Reeves is no longer attached to work on the new the Twilight Zonemovie--according to Variety--over scheduling conflicts mean anything??

The film will continue the action from last year's Rise of the Planet of the Apes. As human society contiues collapsing after a viral outbreak and the highly intelligent simians now free, the story will follow the apes on their path to emerge as society’s new rulers.

Wyatt chose not to return reportedly due to the fact that the director wasn't comfortable with making the May 23rd 2014 release date the studio had announced.

Stromberg will direct the project which has been set up at Hydra Films, Inc, a new production company which helps filmmakers obtain financing through the development of "pitch-vis" trailers and presentations.

Although no specific story details were given, Safari is said to be, "a large-scale adventure pic in the vein of Jurassic Park and Avatar."

Based on Daniel H. Wilson's novel, the cautionary tale explores the fate of the human race after a robot uprising. Wilson has a Ph.D. in robotics and grounded his tale in a heavy degree of authenticity derived from real robot technology.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Alan Taylor directs the sequel that is on a larger scale than the first film with double the amount of Asgardian characters and the inclusion of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) battling more mythical Norse creatures.

Brake will play a captain in an elite squad of warriors known as the Einherjar. Russell will play Tyr, Asgard’s god of war and the older brother of Thor.

Described like Sonnenfeld's own "Men in Black with mythological creatures", and based on the graphic novel by Ashley Wood and T.P. Louise--the story follows the secret society of Shepherds - guardians who hold the banished world of mythical creatures at bay. When the generational line of Shepherds is broken, a reluctant hero finds her life threatened from every quarter - and the creatures are coming back.

'Hunter' is an action/driving game featuring the G-6155 Interceptor, a fictitious car that is beset by a wide array of enemy vehicles. The lead character is an ex-fighter pilot turned freelance assassin who specialises in targeting intelligence agents who have gone rogue.

The idea for the film version has been around for awhile. Directors John Woo and Paul W.S. Anderson have been attached to helm the pic.

The first pic follows a bouncer (Sean William Scott) who becomes an enforcer on an underdog semi-pro hockey team.

For fans concerned that a sequel is being rushed, Baruchel posted the following in an attempt to assure fans that they need not worry.

"Please know this: GOON is pretty close to sacred for all of us involved and we would only be entertaining the idea of continuing the saga if we were all equally convinced that Doug, Laflamme, Stevesy, the Russians, Rolie, Ogilvy Belchy and Eva were only getting started. We will give them and you guys the epic, violent, heartfelt awesomeness that is not just deserved but required. HIGH. LAND. ERS."

Aaron Guzikowski's lauded script centers on a small-town carpenter named Keller (Hugh Jackman) whose young daughter and best friend are kidnapped. After the cops fail to find them, Keller takes the law into his own hands, but in the process runs up against the big city detective assigned to the case.

if Gyllenhaal takes the role he would play the detective investigating the kidnappings who butts heads with Keller.

The drama will center on his obsession with the mountain, and his rivalry with fellow climber George Finch. Mallory and his climbing partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine failed in two previous attempts in 1921 and 1922. They were spotted near the summit on their third attempt in 1924, before they disappeared. Their remains were discovered in 1999 by Conrad Anker.